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Product Description
Product Description
By the Queen's command, she carried a letter that could alter the course of history - or eclipse her own future. . . . Eager for a respite from her role as handmaiden to Queen Elizabeth I, Ursula Blanchard agrees to travel to France to help her first husband's father bring his young ward home to England. But duty soon calls. Fearing that the pro-Catholic forces threatening to tear France asunder will spread to Protestant England, the Queen instructs Ursula to deliver a secret letter personally to Catherine de Medicis, offering to mediate the crisis. Not only will the perilous journey separate Ursula from her young daughter, it will bring her closer to a man she can neither trust nor forget - her estranged second husband, Matthew de la Roche, avowed Catholic and enemy of Elizabeth. As it becomes clear that someone seeks to thwart her mission, she realizes she can trust no one but herself, and that only she can uncover the truth hidden in the shadows of treason, greed, and desire that darken her way.
About the Author
Fiona Buckley is the author of eight historical mystery novels featuring Ursula Blanchard: To Shield the Queen, The Doublet Affair, Queen's Ransom, To Ruin a Queen, Queen of Ambition, A Pawn for a Queen, The Fugitive Queen, and The Siren Queen. She lives in North Surrey, England.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
The third of this series of engaging Elizabethan whodunnits. The characters are attractive and the stories flow well, though the remorseless anti-Catholicism can be a bit grating.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
11 reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
excellent installment in this thrilling Elizabethean mystery
16 Dec 1999
Format:Hardcover
In 1562, Elizabeth I is twenty-eight years old. She is about the same age as Ursula Blanchard, her Lady of the Presence Chamber. However, Ursula is a spy who has done things that deeply bother her conscience and eat at her soul. To cleanse herself, Ursula goes to France for a bit of needed respite. She accompanies the father of her first spouse, who plans to return home with his ward, the woman intended to wed his son.
France is unsafe, as civil war between the Papists and the Huguenots is imminent. Just before she leaves for the continent, Ursula meets with her Royal Highness. Elizabeth gives Ursula a message to deliver to the French Queen Catherine de Medici. The English monarch offers to mediate between the two warring factions. Ursula is unaware that she is the bait to return a traitor to England. That person happens to be her spouse, loyal to Mary.
QUEEN'S RANSOME, the third installment in the mysteries at the court of Queen Elizabeth I is a fantastic historical fiction novel filled with royal intrigue. Readers gain an insightful look at France on the brink of internal religious wars. Although clearly a product of her times, Ursula retains independence fed by her belief she can accomplish anything. Readers will fully relish the woman as she travels life,s path. Renowned for her characterizations, Fiona Buckley is a creative storyteller who makes the Elizabethan era fun to read about in her novels.
Hariet Klausner
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Atmospheric and well-written
8 Feb 2000
Format:Hardcover
Fiona Buckley's third historical mystery featuring Ursula Blanchard, lady-in-waiting (and sometime spy) to Queen Elizabeth I, "Queen's Ransom," takes place in the 1560s, mostly in France where war is brewing between Catholics and Heugenots. Accompanying her dead husband's father to fetch his niece from the troubled land, Ursula is asked by Elizabeth to carry an offer of mediation to Catherine, Queen Mother and Regent of France. Though she dislikes her father-in-law, Luke Blanchard, who was against his son's marriage and has spurned his young granddaughter, Ursula agrees to go partly in hopes of seeing her second husband, a leader of the Catholic faction in France. Joined by love, separated by politics, their relationship has several times landed them on opposite sides of armed and clandestine engagements (in previous books). The tradition continues as Ursula soon realizes she is immersed in treachery, murder at her heels. Lively period intrigue supplies subplots as well as the main story; Ursula is quick and brave but also a woman of her times, and the setting is vivid, brutal and atmospheric even to the contrasting feel of the countryside between France and England.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Another compelling look at the intrigues of court.
29 May 2000
Format:Hardcover
This is an outstanding mystery series for lovers of historical fiction, and although this entry may lack the punch of the first two (there seemed to be too few real surprises) the book is still a worthwhile read. The mystery is solid and interesting, the characters are complex, and the description of time and place is unbeatable.
Best of all, Fiona Buckley is an extremely good writer, a true pleasure to read. Unfortunately, Scribner's proofreaders seem to be letting her down--I noticed several typos (including a "teh" in place of "the"). Spell-check, anyone?
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